Student Procrastination: Why Students Procrastinate and How to Stop it!

Student procrastination is a problem that teachers, tutors, parents, and the youth themselves are facing all over the world. Do you know about that urge to leave your academic work and assignments for last-minute deadlines, even if you have plenty of time to complete it? Yes, that is procrastination!

It is indeed a complicated problem, and it is even harder to overcome procrastination, but not impossible. Every student has a coping mechanism when it comes to dealing with their procrastination; all they need to do is identify it.

If you are a student who is procrastinating or a tutor or teacher who wants to help their students beat procrastination, you have landed at the right place!

In this post, we are going to explain mainly why students procrastinate, how it affects them, and most importantly, how can you and the student itself stop it. Keep Reading!

Why Do Students Procrastinate?

From high school students to college students, procrastination is common at every level. But the question is, “Why is this happening?” Understanding the root causes of why a student is procrastinating helps to stop procrastination. Don’t worry; we have compiled a list of some root causes and underlying reasons for procrastination. Read on!

Lack of Motivation

Lack of motivation is one of the most significant reasons why students procrastinate. 60% of high school students procrastinate because they don’t feel motivated to complete their school work. Why? Well, because there are motivating rewards for them right now.

Anxiety & Stress

Stress and anxiety are the main culprits that make people procrastinate, especially students. According to research, most college students procrastinate because they are suffering from extreme stress or anxiety-related issues. Obviously, how can someone focus with so many negative feelings?

Poor Time Management Skills

Another reason for procrastination among students is poor time management skills and knowledge. Sometimes, students do want to complete and finish their tasks promptly, but they are unable to plan and manage their time accordingly.

Exhaustion

Let’s be realistic here; the extreme workload of schools and colleges lead students to tiredness and exhaustion. And this exhaustion further leads them to procrastination. Now obviously, if their mind and body are exhausted, how are they going to concentrate on their school, deadlines, and homework?

Low Self Esteem

Lastly, low self-esteem and lack of confidence are the major causes of a student’s procrastination. There can be a lot of reasons for this: no motivation, fear of failure, stress, anxiety, overwhelming expectations from parents, or constant lower grades.

Task Aversion

Task aversion happens when you are intentionally procrastinating and avoiding assignments or homework because of the following reasons:

• You don’t think the homework or assignment is that important.
• You think those assignments will have no positive or negative impact on your future.

No matter what the reason is, you are still giving fuel to your procrastination.

Self-Handicapping

Self-handicapping is a situation where the student procrastinates willingly to hide his inabilities and later blames the failure on procrastination. This reason for procrastination is not common and people don’t often do it, but it is still a condition.

Self-Sabotaging

People self-sabotage themselves willingly or unwillingly at some point, but here, we are talking about self-sabotaging by will. Again, there can be a lot of reasons for this; mental health issues, hindering your success, or lack of self-love and motivation.

Effects of Procrastinating on Student

The reasons and effects of procrastinating are somehow the same and linked with each other. Now obviously, procrastination causes a lot of negative effects on students. Their schoolwork and assignments are never completed, their grades keep going down, they are always behind in class, and they aren’t able to progress.

Moreover, procrastinating can make them feel frustrated, stressed, and tense all the time. Why? Well, because they haven’t completed their homework, they aren’t ready to focus and complete it, but they need to complete it.

In worst cases, procrastination can lead to serious anxiety and stress-related issues. Eventually, anxiety will lead you to have lower self-esteem & self-confidence, and fear of failure. All these things combined will make you procrastinate even more and this will become a vicious cycle.

If you want your students to stop procrastinating, you should do everything in your power to help them. Similarly, if you are a student and you want to avoid procrastinating, you will need to work for that.

How can you stop Student Procrastination?

There are two types of people that can stop students to procrastinate. The first type is the students themselves, and the second one is their tutors, teachers, or parents. Below, we are going to share tips that will help both these groups of people in overcoming procrastination.

How can Students stop Procrastinating?

Here are a few simple yet effective ways that students can use themselves for overcoming procrastination:

• Set Goals for Yourself: First of all, keep in mind that nothing is going to happen itself. You will need to do a lot of planning, set goals for yourself, and keep reminding yourself of those goals.
• Make Milestones: Next, never try to finish your task in one go; that is only going to make you procrastinate more. Instead, plan small and manageable milestones for one big project. For example, if you need to write a 1000 words essay, divide it into smaller chunks. Like, write 250 words, take a break, and repeat!
• Focus on your Goals: Instead of focusing on the task and procrastination, try to focus on your goals, think about them, and think how bad you want to achieve them. The moment you think about your future goals, you will get a burst of motivation to complete your tasks.
• Give yourself a deadline: Apart from the deadline your school, college, or professor gave you, give another deadline to yourself too. This way, you will feel accountable to complete the work, and more motivated too!

How can you stop students from procrastination?

Next, if you are a parent, tutor, or teacher and want your students to stop procrastinating, here are a few effective tips for you:

• Help them understand the concept of procrastination: Sometimes, students are not familiar with what procrastination is while they are doing it. Therefore, you need to make them fully understand the concept so that they know what they are doing.
• Telling them about the effects: Next, you need to tell your students how dangerous and bad procrastination is for them and what sort of serious issues it can cause. These issues include continuous bad grades, poor academic performance, and a negative effect on mental health.
• Help them Identify the cause: If you want to help your students, then identify the cause of their procrastination with them. After that, work with them to eliminate the cause.
• Implement Anti-procrastination techniques: Let your students know about the anti-procrastination techniques available, help them pick out their desired ones, and then implement those techniques on them. One of those techniques is to break large tasks into manageable, doable, and smaller tasks.

Final Words

Trying to help your students overcome procrastination is a sign that you are a good and concerned teacher/tutor. And if you stay dedicated and follow the steps we mentioned above, we are sure your student will get rid of procrastination and progress in their academic life!